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Space Elevator
The Rumours Not long after the Atomic Chinese took over what remained of the once proud nation of China, rumours began to circulate about impossibly tall structures that literally reached up into the heavens with no end in sight. These structures bear an uncanny resemblance to the Space Elevator proposed by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1895. Most of the people who made such claims were ignored by even the least accurate of Syndicate tabloids due to the sheer level of ridiculousness of such claims - not only would it be downright impossible for a nation that had just been reduced to ruins to be able to have the manpower or money to build such things, but there is no material in the world capable of preventing such a "Tower of Babel" from collapsing under its own weight. Any citizen of the Atomic Kingdom knows better. For they will most certainly have seen, and likely ridden in one of these elevators before. For them, the Space Elevators are most certainly real, without a doubt. A Ladder into Space Most (respectable) scientists agree that a compression structure in the style of a giant skyscraper is clearly impossible. According to them, the only feasible space elevator design would be a tensile structure, and even then such "space tethers" would have to be constructed of an extremely strong and lightweight material to prevent it from snapping. Yet, somehow, the Chinese have managed to build something that most scientists agree is clearly impossible. The exact mechanism behind how the Space Elevator is prevented from collapsing under its own weight is not fully understood, but apparently it is kept upright by a "structural integrity field". The technology of the structural integrity field appears to be based on a combination of planar shielding and tractor beams, which together provide a upwards force to counteract the effects of gravity on the frame that comprises the physical part of the elevator, and also serves to generate the structural integrity field that keeps itself upright. There are actually two classes of space elevator. The first one is of the kind that one might see on the battlefield, and is typically used to deliver troops to the surface and processed ore to the duplicators in orbit. They can be deployed anywhere, as long as there is a Command Yard on the surface to join up to. Of the second, larger, class of elevator, only six examples exist. These elevators serve as the main method of getting men, cargo, and equipment into orbit; one of these elevators can transport 2,000 metric tons of cargo per year. They are located at the tops of mountains, so as to shorten their overall length. In addition, the location also provides a natural hindrance to hostile aircraft. To get to orbit, one must travel in one of the many cargo capsules that travel up and down the elevators; in order to travel up and down the elevator, the capsules travel on the inside of the tubular elevator, riding up and down the struts that form the frame of the elevator, using electrical motors to move up and down the elevator and supplied with energy from the reactors located in orbit. The capsule has substantial shielding, in order to protect it from lethal radiation as it passes through the deadly Van Allen Belt; the Chinese are all too aware of the dangers of radiation. However, travelling up and down the elevator this way can take days; while this is acceptable for transporting goods and civilians to orbit, this posed a problem when trying to get troops to the surface. So for battlefield elevators, a different system was designed. Instead of using the standard transportation capsules, heavy duty re-entry modules, or rather "crates" as they have come to be known due to their shape, serve to provide a rapid means of transportation for Chinese units bound towards the surface. The "crates" rely on a combination of thrusters and tractor beams to provide the initial boost; after that, gravity takes care of the rest. As the "crate" nears the surface, a series of ground based tractor beams arrest the "crate's" fall, before bringing it gently to a stop. This system is not perfect; unlike the capsules of the larger space elevators, the "crates" are not connected to the rails; this means that if the tractor beams on the ground fail, then there is nothing to stop the "crate" from plummeting thousands of metres to its death, unless the "crate" is well above the earth's surface, of course. Production Infantry Mode Vehicle Mode Aircraft Mode Naval Mode Category:Buildings